Aviation News

Diamond Aircraft, based in Austria, was sold to new owners in China last December, and this week the company released details about how the new owners plan to manage the company. Wanfeng Aviation Industry will focus on continued growth and maintain the site in Austria as “global headquarters,” according to the statement. The company will […]

Struggling with worsening pilot retention in a hot civil hiring market, the Navy is offering its aviators substantial bonuses to stay in the service. For the second year in a row, the Navy has boosted its incentive pay up to $175,000 for pilots who sign on for a five-year term. Vice Admiral Robert Burke told […]

Aspen Avionics and Sensurion Aerospace said this week they have entered a partnership to work together to create certified avionics for unmanned aerial vehicles. The partners said they plan to create FAA-certified autopilots, communications, navigation and surveillance systems, for small, medium and large aircraft.Aspen CEO John Uczekaj told AVweb on Wednesday the partnership is still […]

Drone flights are restricted within 5 miles of an airport, unless the FAA gives advance permission, but now the FAA is beginning to approve flights within the airport boundaries for professional operators. Last week, the FAA said it will allow first responders to operate drones at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport — one of the busiest […]

The FAA’s latest Aerospace Forecast offers a mixed bag for GA for the next two decades, with modest growth in the turbine sector offsetting continued erosion in the piston fleet. The agency says the long-term outlook is “stable to optimistic” for GA and related industries. The latest report, which the FAA compiles annually, predicts continued […]

The operators of Santa Monica Airport shortened the sole runway in December, but the airport’s data for February shows that while jet operations were down 80 percent compared to the 2016-17 average, helicopter and turboprop operations both increased by about 40 percent. Piston operations remained about the same, with a slight 2 percent drop. Overall, […]

Boeing has flown its latest version of the 737, the Max 7, for the first time, the company announced last week. The airplane flew for just over three hours, taking off from Renton, Washington, and landing at Boeing Field in Seattle. The flight crew tested the flight controls, systems and handling qualities. “Everything we saw […]

The Transportation Security Administration has withdrawn its proposal to establish a security program that would have affected private and corporate aircraft operators, the agency said on Friday. The agency had proposed the “Large Aircraft Security Program” in 2008, suggesting operators of GA aircraft that weigh more than 12,500 pounds should be required to implement security […]

This weekend, a Qantas 787-9 will fly the first-ever nonstop airline route from Australia to Europe, traveling from Perth to London. The jet will carry 236 passengers on the trip, covering 7,775 NM in about 17 hours. “It’s great news for travelers because it will make it easier to get to London,” said Qantas CEO […]

Although electric airplanes still inhabit a regulatory backwater, Slovenian-based Pipistrel Aircraft is boosting its production of battery-powered trainers and reports a 50-50 split between gasoline and electric aircraft. In this exclusive podcast, the company told AVweb this week that a new production line is building five to six Alpha Electro trainers per month. “We reorganized […]